Lisa Bass
Contributing writer
2018 was a good year for youth robotics teams in the New River Valley.
FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” and brings together students to design, build, program, and operate robots competing in tournaments.
The local FIRST Tech Challenge Team 4924, also known as “Tuxedo Pandas,” seven young people based in Christiansburg and Blacksburg, donning their signature panda hats, hosted three robotics tournaments in the New River Valley this fall 2018.
The Virginia DC FIRST Lego League, the FLL, Regional Qualifier was held at Blacksburg Middle School on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. Twenty-four teams competed in Division I and Division II for various awards and a chance to compete at the state championship.
Teams of up to ten children between 9 and 14 years old participated in the “Into Orbit” challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field and developing solutions to problems they have identified while guided by the FIRST core values of Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, and Teamwork.
In early December, three Blacksburg teams, Team 38690 Panda Cubs, Team 19941 Brickadon and Team 25762 Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies 2 qualaified to go to the Championship Tournament at James Madison University in Harristonburg.
The Duckies won first place robot performance and first place robot design from among 108 teams from across Virginia and Washington D.C.
The inaugural FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) tournament was held at Auburn Middle School on Dec. 8, 2018. FTC members ages 12 to 18 years old built and programmed 42-pound robots to compete two-on-two on a Robot Ruckus spaced theme field to retrieve minerals from a planet surface.
Twenty-four teams from Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia competed. Team 15636 You Had One Job from Pulaski won the Judges’ Award. Team 11624 Robocats from Radford High School won first place in the Motivate Award, third place in the Think Award and were chosen to be in the finalist alliance.
During the FTC Tournament, a FLL Junior Expo was held for the youngest of robot researchers, builders and programmers. Seven teams of children ages 5 to 8 years old showcased what they learned about space living as a part of Mission Moon. There were two award winning Christiansburg Teams: Team 7693 Blast Off! won the Effort and Learning as well as the Solid-as-a-Rock Design Awards. Team 14762 Skylab won Construction Innovation and Rising Star Awards.
To focus on being gracious local hosts, Tuxedo Pandas chose to travel to Orange County High School on November 17, 2018 to compete. These two boys and five girls won a spot to the FIRST Chesapeake FTC Championship in February 2019 in Richmond for the earning these awards: third place for the Motivate Award, second place Inspire and Designs Awards, first place for Winning Alliance and the Connect Award.
Montgomery County High School FIRST Robotics Competition Team 401 Copperheads went to the National Championship in Detroit, Michigan in April 2018. They hope to repeat this trip for their veteran and new members from all four MCPS high schools. However, these students must wait until January 5, 2019 for the big reveal of the Deep Space missions. Team 401 will then have only six weeks of afterschool and weekend time to build and program a 110-pound robot. All the while, they will be planning to host a FRC qualifier at Blacksburg High School on March 29-31, 2019 with a second FLL Junior Expo.
Having five FIRST robotics events in the NRV is quite unique in Virginia. The supportive community of businesses, organizations and schools has been appreciated and will help grow hands-on STEM with more local teams and competitions.
